<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>as it began, so it continues by SmittyJaws</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25849099">as it began, so it continues</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmittyJaws/pseuds/SmittyJaws'>SmittyJaws</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>R2J AU [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Led Zeppelin, Queen (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Asexual Character, Bisexual Male Character, Established Relationship, Fluff, Multi, Polyamory</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:27:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25849099</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmittyJaws/pseuds/SmittyJaws</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A late night in a hospital starts a new chapter for our trio.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Robert Plant/Original Female Character(s), Robert Plant/Roger Taylor (Queen)/Original Female Character(s), Roger Taylor (Queen)/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>R2J AU [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757326</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>as it began, so it continues</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This one's dedicated to @transeliot on Tumblr, as it's their birthday today and I know how much they love this ship!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s early. Far too early. Roger yawns, one hand idly rubbing over Jay’s arm where she’s slumped into his side, half asleep after watching YouTube videos for hours. On his other side, Robert looks rather bleary and out of it too, as do the rest of their friends, gathered in their group in the hospital waiting room while they wait for Blanche to give birth.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Roger looks at his phone: <em>2:42am</em>. Thank God he hasn’t got a job to go to first thing in the morning, or he’d be in a great deal of trouble, adding onto his sleep deficit like this. As it is, Thalia and Bonzo had had to throw in the towel at 12, unable to justify keeping Ben out of bed for so long, and Jonesy needing to call it at 1:30 for his own work at the studio in the morning.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So now it’s just the three of them, and Deaky and Brian; Freddie had said he and Jim would be by, but Roger hasn’t seen them yet. Jimmy’s been in and out, predictably frazzled, and while Robert’s done his best to reassure him, Jimmy doesn’t seem any less anxious any time he stops by and tells them there’s no update.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Roger envies Jay; she looks comfortable, and after a bit of shifting in his seat to make this work, he decides he’ll get a bit of shuteye as well. Robert’s off reading WikiHow and Yahoo Answers topics on parenting on his phone, so clearly he won’t be falling asleep anytime soon.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Roger’s just closed his eyes to settle in for some rest when he hears Robert’s voice, quiet but pensive. “I’ve been thinking.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm?” Roger’s listening, but he’s not opening his eyes. He doesn’t particularly feel like having the hospital fluorescent lights burning more of a hole into his skull than they already have. “‘Bout what?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Us. We should get married.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span><em>That</em> makes his eyes snap open, and he sits up to face Robert better, shaking Jay to rouse her. He can’t have heard that correctly. “...what?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You. Me. Jay.” Robert indicates them all in turn, before pulling something out of his pocket, revealing it to be a small tell-tale shaped box. “Married.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jay’s staring now too, all traces of fatigue rapidly disappearing. “I-is that...?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It is.” Robert smiles, almost shyly, opening it up to reveal two matching gold bands. “What do you think?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Roger exchanges a glance with Jay, both of them dumbfounded. He hadn’t seen this coming in the slightest, and from the looks of things, neither had Jay. Jay’s brow furrows slightly as she looks back at the ring box. “Where did you get those? Wait, no. How long have you had those? In your jeans?” She gestures. “This obviously couldn’t have been your first choice of location to do this. You could have lost them.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Had to make sure you wouldn’t find them when you did laundry.” Robert grins wryly, shrugging a shoulder. “And no, I didn’t plan on doing it here. I just... sort of thought I’d hold onto them and see if an opportunity presented itself. But then I decided...why wait?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He looks back at Roger and Jay again with the same kind of look he gives them when they wake up together in the morning, or when one of them is ill and he’s helping out, and Roger knows he’s being absolutely sincere. From the corner of his eye, Roger can see Brian and John gaping at them in their seats, but ignores them to refocus on the situation at hand.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But we can't actually get married,” Jay says with a frown. “Not legally.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The smile on Robert’s face dims slightly, but he just shakes his head. “I know that. I know it wouldn’t be a <em>‘real’</em> wedding.” He makes air quotes and sighs, before looking back up at them. “All I know is, I love you both. I like waking up next to you and falling asleep next to you at night. I miss you both terribly when you’re not around. I didn’t think I’d be doing this when we first started dating, but I don’t think any of us did.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He lets out a short laugh. “I want to marry you both; whatever that means for us. I want <em>you</em>, no matter if we’re legal or not. Will you marry me?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He gets off his chair to go down on one knee, still watching them hopefully (although the effect is ruined slightly by his spine making a weird cracking noise at the shift in position), and Roger is speechless.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He never thought he’d be the one in this position; all his life before this relationship, he assumed he’d be the one having to do the proposing, if he ever got married at all. But now, all the societal rules have gone out the window— not that they hadn’t already when they started dating —and he turns to Jay, his silver tongue having abandoned him. “I’m— I don’t know what to say.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Say yes,” he hears Brian call out in a stage whisper behind him, but Roger ignores that (though he does snicker at the quiet <em>“Oof”</em> that comes right after, presumably from John driving an elbow into his boyfriend’s ribs) to look at Jay. “Do you— is that something you’d want?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Would you?” she counters, before her expression softens. “We work well together, Rog. I know I wasn’t sure of this relationship when we started out, but I’ve never been more sure of anything now.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“But your parents—” he argues weakly, only for Jay to shake her head.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“The only way I’d get back in their good books is if we stopped dating altogether. Besides, if they can’t see that we’re happy, then why should their opinion matter?” Jay shakes her head.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She’s not wrong, but Roger still worries. Worries that their relationship might fall apart the way his parents’ did. Worries about what people might say; though he’s normally of the opinion that others’ opinions don’t matter about them, Zeppelin is picking up popularity and Queen’s not too far behind; he doesn’t fancy being raked over the coals by some gossip rag looking to publish some salacious story about his personal life. Worries that Jay will take the brunt of this if neither he nor Robert are around.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But then he thinks back on their relationship; how far they’ve come in the past year and a half that they’ve been dating as a trio, and try as he might, Roger can’t envision a future without both of them in it in some way.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He thinks about the way Robert looks when he falls asleep first and curls up into Roger’s side when he sleeps. Thinks about Jay and how she always gives him a kiss when he’s home from recording or after a show. Thinks about how much he enjoys stupid little things like the drinking games they play for their favourite TV shows, or their smiles, or how they’re always the first people that he wants to talk to after a long day, and Roger realizes that he knows the answer.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We started off in a hospital too.” He smiles wryly; he still doesn’t remember much of that night and the memory of what could have happened still haunts him slightly, but it’s what led to this, isn’t it? “S’fitting you’d propose here.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Robert and Jay snicker behind their hands at that too, the thought clearly not having occurred to them until now. “Well, we’re definitely unconventional,” Robert observes, giving Roger a hopeful look. “So does that mean...?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” Roger nods, taking Jay’s hand in his own and lacing their fingers together before reaching out to Robert with his free one. “I’d love to get married to you.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I want that too,” Jay says, a shy smile of her own appearing. “If that wasn’t obvious. I want to marry you both.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Robert’s entire face lights up at that, and he surges forward, pulling both Roger and Jay into a tight hug, even as Roger can hear quiet cheering and applause from Brian, John, and the couple of other strangers waiting in the room. Roger doesn’t care about that right now, though; he’s only got eyes for his... Boyfriend and girlfriend? Partners? Fiancés?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The term makes him start slightly and he shivers as he lets Robert slide the engagement ring onto his finger, staring at the gold band afterwards while Robert does the same for Jay. He hadn’t anticipated how good that would feel; to know that someone (or someoneS, in this case) loves him enough to want him to be around for the rest of their life.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He can hear Jay bickering with Robert about how they’ll need to get him a ring too for it to be totally official, and distantly he realizes that Brian and John have moved over from their previous seats to sit next to him and congratulate him, but nothing is fully registering right now as looks down at the ring on his finger. He’s <em>engaged</em>. He’s going to get <em>married</em>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>At some point he notices that Freddie and Jim have arrived, Freddie looking unreasonably well put-together and chipper for the hour and Jim bringing coffee for all, but Roger’s still in shock. He only just manages to pull himself together when Jimmy comes out beaming a little while later and announces that Blanche has had a healthy little boy, who they’ve named Carson.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>All the focus is off the three of them for a while after that announcement, everyone congratulating Jimmy, and Roger can almost forget that Robert’s proposed until his phone rings on the way out the door to go home. He raises an eyebrow; why is Blanche calling him? Shouldn’t she be resting?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He picks up and puts her on speaker while Robert unlocks the car and they all get in, ready to go home and get some sleep. “Blanche? Something wrong?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So, what’s the news?” She sounds eager, despite her obvious fatigue, and Roger’s confused.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you talking about?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She sighs. “Put me on speaker. I need to talk to Robert.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You <em>are</em> on speaker. Shouldn’t you be sleeping? You just had a baby.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not sleeping until I know what happened.” Her tone of voice brooks no refusal, before she addresses Robert. “So Robert, did they say yes?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In the backseat, Jay leans forward to be closer to the phone, frowning. “How do you know about that?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, Robert was texting me right before,” Blanche says blithely. “He told me what he was planning on doing; gave me something to distract myself from the contractions. So, tell me!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>In the background Roger can hear Jimmy protesting about her still being up, and what sounds like Blanche batting him away, with promises to get off the phone in just a minute.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Robert speaks up then, voice soft, and when he turns his head towards Roger at a stoplight, his gaze is warm and affectionate. “They said yes. We’re getting married.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh my God!” Blanche squeals excitedly. “Oh, we’re going to have so much to talk about when I’m out of the hospital, you three. I’m so happy for you!” A pause, then a long-suffering sigh which turns into a yawn. “Anyway, I’m being made to get some sleep, so we’ll chat later, alright?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course,” Roger responds, a smile on his own face now, though he knows she can’t see it. “Congratulations to you both as well, alright? Can’t wait to meet the baby.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t wait to have him meet you either,” Blanche says, before she says her goodbyes and the call ends. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the ride home is quiet, with the exception of the mix of upbeat early ‘00s techno music that Jay plays off her phone on the aux cable to keep them all awake, and getting ready for bed is only punctuated by yawns and the sounds of clothes being dropped haphazardly on the floor (hey, it’s after 4am at this point, and Roger thinks a little mess can be forgiven).</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The last thing he remembers before falling asleep is the feeling of Robert leaning over to softly kiss him before turning and presumably doing the same to Jay, whispering: “Love you both so much. Can’t wait 'til we get married.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Roger hums contentedly; he’d thought for a while that marriage wasn’t something he’d ever wanted for his life, but feeling this, the love and affection from his partners and the warm feeling it gives him to have them with him for the rest of their lives? Absolutely wonderful.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He falls asleep holding his partners close, looking forward to when they can truly commit themselves to each other.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm also @smittyjaws on Tumblr!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>